Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Notes: Random Novel Free Online for Three DaysIn another publisher experiment making material available at no cost on the Internet, Random House began offering the entire text of Beautiful Children, Charles Bock's debut novel, for free online as of 12:01 this morning until midnight on Friday, Leap Day. Readers will be able to share, e-mail or print the text, which is available as a PDF download at beautifulchildren.net/read. In cooperation with Random, Amazon.com, B&N.com, Powells.com and Northshire.com are making the file available to their customers.

Which reminds me of all the free books on the Kansas Library Catalog available for checkout - as audio files. And free books here in my library, for that matter.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

A couple of great items from this daily newsletter on the book business, particularly aimed at bookstores.

________________________

Quotation of the Day'The Smell of Pure Print'"Ah, the smell of pure print."--Spoken after a deep breath by a 10-year-old boy as he came into the Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop in Mequon, Wis., on Monday. The moment "made me smile along with the customers and booksellers who saw and heard him," Pattie Cox of Schwartz wrote, adding that Monday was the boy's birthday, and his parents had brought him to the store for a treat.

And

Bad news for the book biz? MSN Money offered "10 ways to save money on books:"

Avoid new releases. Read reviews. Find the classics online. Search for bargains.Make Amazon your all-purpose book tool. Frequent your public library. Explore used bookstores. Harness the power of the Internet. Buy only what you intend to read. Share._____________________

Hmmm....

There's a new coffee bar in town, Scooter's downtown in El Dorado. Competition? Maybe, but we appeal to a different crowd here in Library Latte. And as one of my coffee bar business books pointed out, any time you increase the number of possibilities for people to buy premium coffee for a premium price, you are building a customer base who will take that habit with them where ever they go. I know MY coffee habit is two or three cups a day, and if I can get premium coffee, I'm likely to pass on the poor stuff, no matter how cheap, in favor of the good stuff.

Could be the same is true of buying books... there are so many options for book buying, those who need their 'fix' will get it anyway they can. And there's nothing to replace the experience of 'The Smell of Pure Print' by buying on the internet. Still, it does enrich what I can get - Paperback Swop is my daughter's favorite way of building and sharing her collection.

Then there's that favorite quote of hers:

"When I get a little money, I buy books. And if there is any left over, I buy food."

-- Deciderius Erasmus

Me too. Except now I buy more for my library here than I ever dreamed of buying for my own collection... one of my favorite parts of this job.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Theatre in Video contains more than 250 of the world's most important plays, together with more than 100 video documentaries, online in streaming videomore than 500 hours in all. These definitive performances, by leading actors and directors, have been painstakingly licensed from a wide range of copyright holders. They are now delivered to you over the Internet, in a revolutionary new format developed specifically for drama.

The first release of Theatre in Video will include notable productions of Incident at Vichy by Arthur Miller (1973), The Iceman Cometh, by Eugene ONeill (1960); Awake and Sing!, by Clifford Odets (1972); Master Builder, by Henrik Ibsen (1960); Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare (1973); Six Characters in Search of an Author, by Luigi Pirandello (1976); and many others.

Performances targeted for future releases include King Lear with Orson Welles; Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman, with Lee J. Cobb; Becketts Happy Days, with Irene Worth; Neil Simons The Good Doctor, with Lee Grant and Marsha Mason; Tennessee Williamss Eccentricities of a Nightingale, with Blythe Danner; and a long list of additional productions.

How to get there? Click on the Theater in Video link at the bottom of the Butler Online Databases by Subject page. From there, you will need your username and password to Pipeline to get in, if you are not on campus. So take a course from Butler! You'll have a great course under your belt, a Pipeline account, and thus great access to all the library resources here.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Just got this in from the US Dep of Education... thought some of you might like to see it.

February 6, 2008

As a valued customer of ED Pubs, we are sending you this email to let you know of our recently redesigned web site. In an effort to serve you better, the U.S. Department of Education's ED Pubs (Education Publications) web site has undergone an extensive redesign. The web site combines bold colors, strong lines and a greater amount of white space to give it an eye-catching, modern look. The shopping process has been improved by adopting the latest in eCommerce "shopping carts," making it easier to order publications and provide concise, accurate shipping information. The capabilities of "your account" have been extended to realize a more user-friendly environment tailored to your preferences. Please visit us at http://www.edpubs.ed.gov to see for yourself. If you had previously registered on the site, no need to re-register, your user name and password will work and your order history is still available!

New features include:

News—this section highlights one or two "newsworthy" items, such as information about new pub releases, announcements by Secretary Spellings, etc. The items will have relevancy to publications and the ability to quickly find all publications related to a "news" item. Check back often because the information will be updated regularly. Featured Items—this section highlights 3-6 publications that are orderable directly from the home page. Each item displays a thumbnail image and title. By clicking the title you can view the publications detailed information page. Featured items will be updated every 1-2 weeks. Hot Topics—this section lists items in response to current events, key ED initiatives, and other timely information. By clicking on a hot topic the system will run a search and find all publications that relate to the topic. Find Publications By—the links to audience, education level, language, publication type, and subject allow you to quickly find publications related to the groupings. For example, a principal could click on audience and then select "principals" to find all publications that are intended for him/her; a teacher searching for posters could click on publication type and then select "posters" from the list of terms. Students/Parents/Teachers/Administrators—these menu items listed near the top of the page allow you to quickly find publications that are intended for you. In order to make the search results more manageable you can further refine your group by education level (e.g., elementary, middle, high, college/university, etc.) and subject (e.g., English, math, science, and social studies). Español—this section links to publications that are written in Spanish and a Spanish version of the FAQs. Breadcrumbs—this tool aids you in navigating the site. It is listed below the header and before the main content. You can click on any item in the breadcrumb trail and return to that page. Zoom—this allows you to quickly view a larger publication cover image. Quantity—the ability to add the desired number of copies from any page. The system will validate the quantity entered and let you know if the number is above the maximum that is allowed. Over the next several months, we will continue to fine tune the site and we encourage you to check back frequently to see our progress, check out the latest news items, and browse the new arrivals. Of course, if you have any problems or questions please feel free to call us at 1-877-4ED-PUBS (433-7827). Our professional, knowledgeable Customer Service Representatives are available to assist you Monday through Friday from 9:00am to 6:00pm EST. If you arent able to call during this time, please feel free to leave us a voicemail or simply send an email to edpubs@edpubs.ed.gov. You can expect a response within 1 business day.

Since I've done the LibQual+ Survey, and had a review of the material gleaned, and felt incompetent to deal beyond that, I decided it was time to take the statistics course I never had in college. I never had it because I avoided it after visiting my summer canoe camping partner, Priscilla, when she was in her first year at University of Rochester. We both thought it would be nice if I went to college there... She invited me up for the weekend, including Friday classes. I felt quite at home in the English Lit class, studying John Milton, which I'd been doing in my AP English classes (Mrs. Pizante was terrific!). But the statistics class was way over my head by that point in the semester.

So I actually find I'm enjoying it.

And learning that it is a challenge. So I was right to understand that it was difficult. But wrong to be afraid of it.

Meantime, I'm hoping to make the case that the Andover campus needs a library at the 5000 building, rather than let the college assume that the shared library at the 6000 building (shared with the high school) will suffice after this enormous expansion that's occurred at Andover.

It's really cool and fills out on information that I've been wondering or have heard bits and pieces about:

"Sierra Club just launched a partnership with Clorox called Green Works - natural, effective, and inexpensive cleaning products. The ingredients are derived from coconuts and lemon oil, contain no phosphorus or bleach, formulated to be biodegradable, not tested on animals, non-allergenic, and packaged in bottles that can be recycled. For around $2.99 to $3.39 they are much cheaper than most “green” products on the market. You can find these products in most stores and even Amazon will be selling them as well.

Why not pick some up for your library cleaning? Healthier work environments lead to healthier and more productive employees."

Friday, February 01, 2008

Science and Technology in World Historyby James E. McClellan III and Harold DornThe Johns Hopkins University Press

Now in its second edition, this bestselling textbook may be the single most influential study of the historical relationship between science and technology ever published. Tracing this relationship from the dawn of civilization through the twentieth century, James E. McClellan III and Harold Dorn argue that technology as "applied science" emerged relatively recently, as industry and governments began funding scientific research that would lead directly to new or improved technologies.

The new edition reorganizes its treatment of Greek science and significantly expands its coverage of industrial civilization and contemporary science and technology with new and revised chapters devoted to applied science, the sociology and economics of science, globalization, and the technological systems that underpin everyday life.